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Ethical Blindspot
Ethics was once again in the news last week. The state’s Lobbying Commission fined Syracuse University $5,000 for its illegal gift to a non-Syracuse area legislator who happens to serve on the Senate higher education committee. The investigation revealed that the University offered tickets to last year’s NCAA basketball championship games to top legislative and executive branch staffers and legislators. In one case, the Commission determined that the gift exceeded the $75 legal limit. It’s not surprising that Syracuse University would give out gifts to lawmakers. The University is involved in lobbying activities at the state Capitol and, as their spokesperson put it, “ the university provides gifts as part of maintaining its working relationships with public officials and their staffs.” “Working relationships,” such as legislative favors during the session. Lawmakers – like other people – appreciate gifts and usually are pleased with those who give them. And what Syracuse did is not unusual in Albany. Under New York State law, as long as the gift to policymakers is worth less than $75, it’s perfectly legal. Other special interests give gifts; they want to build “working relationships” too. There is a big problem with this practice. The problem is that those bearing gifts – or campaign contributions – get to have “working relationships” with lawmakers while those who can’t afford to do so often lose out. It’s easy to imagine tobacco giant Philip Morris giving lawmakers tickets to the upcoming US Open in order to develop “working relationships,” but it’s much harder to imagine the League of Women Voters springing for tickets to the World Series. When objections are raised to this practice, some lawmakers defend themselves by pointing out that gift giving is a common practice in the business world. Businesspeople, after all, regularly take potential clients out to dinner, or offer them corporate box seats at sporting events. But government is different. Legislation is not for sale. Government is more like the court system. Policymakers, like judges, are supposed to listen to different sides in a policy dispute and then make a decision to change a law based on who makes the best case. And lawmakers’ ability to change the law is what makes its ethical situation totally different from the business world. In the legal system it is considered unethical for a judge to accept gifts from lawyers who are arguing a case. It is unethical for the lawyers to give the members of the jury tickets to major sporting events. It should be the same for the lawmakers. When they accept freebies from lobbyists, they are allowing those with the resources – money, sports tickets, and other goodies – to build “working relationships” that other groups simply cannot offer. It’s like the judge accepting a trip to a posh vacation spot from the wealthy lawyer – it is unethical and should be for those in New York State government. The Lobbying Commission is also currently investigating a pharmaceutical company’s activities during the Republican National Convention. The investigation uncovered new creative ways that lawmakers accept gifts. The pharmaceutical company hosted an expensive luncheon in which Governor Pataki’s wife was honored. At the luncheon, instead of using their own money to attend, lawmakers paid the pharmaceutical company using campaign contributions. Under New York State law, lawmakers are allowed to spend their campaign contributions for virtually anything that’s related to a campaign, the holding of a public office or party position. In the case of the Pataki luncheon, lawmakers could argue that they were attending in their official capacity as public officials. So in New York a lawmaker can pay for a big event out of their campaign account and then later on hold a campaign fundraiser for that money to be paid back! Albany has a whopper of an ethical blind spot when it comes to gifts. Far too many lawmakers view gifts from lobbyists as a perk of the job – one that they are entitled to. Gift giving is one entitlement program that should be abolished. That’s all for now. I’ll be keeping an eye on the Capitol and will talk to you again next week.
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